Tsinguílev's nano reef

[Tsinguílev]

    Namaste All, 

 

    My name is Wladimir Tsinguilev. I reside in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. 

 

    Since I can remember birds (and later on ornithology,https://www.hbw.com/ibc/u/11943), everything related to nature and drums (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCln0m94H1_eYyW8pWCw-WLA/videos?view_as=subscriber) always fascinated me. Reefkeeping was something that I got acquainted with years later. I was attracted by the cornucopia of colors and vividness exposed in the photos available on the internet of all the coral colonies and marine fishes in the tanks and wanted to have a reef aquarium someday. As a kid I kept freshwater aquariums, bettas, turtles, parrots, dogs and cats but the reef aquarium was something unheard of back in the day in Bulgaria.     

       

    As a matter of fact the first source on reefkeeping that I was exposed to was at 9 years of age at the library of the Institute of Ecology in Sofia. It was a German magazine called DATZ Aquarium&Terrarium and a lot of books on ornithology and nature. Books and magazines are still mandatory for me as of today and I do consider myself a bibliophile, even though we live in the age of the internet, computers and all the high tech paraphernalia.     

 

    I started my little artificial slice of the ocean at the end of August of 2013 and the system is still running. It is a 20 gallon (45x45x40) mixed reef. On various occasions I changed and rearranged the aquascape, corals, fish and other inhabitants and today I am happy to say that I do not make waterchanges and finally got the perfect match as far as chemistry is concerned (ATI essentials 1,2and 3 is doing great for me). I will post photos in a chronological fashion as it was difficult to make a diary over the years, and I always thought it is very difficult to keep one in timely fashion. 

 

      PART I

                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                      The tank is rimless and the stand is made of glass. Wavemaker Hydor Koralia, live rock from Indonesia, a Centropygae flavicauda back at the center, Xenia sp., Caulastrea sp., Euphyllia, Feather duster, a Trochus snail and Carib sea sand bed.     

 

                                                                                                                            In the right corner there is a Wheeler's Shrimp Goby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri), a fish with great personality. 

A close-up of this nano inhabitant, suitable even for pico tanks. 

                                                                                                              Nassarius snails patrolling the neighborhood, one of them is still with me to this day. This top-down perspective reveals the Chinese LED light. If my memory serves me well it was a 38W E27 bulb for €45, which served its puropse in the beggining with not so delicate corals in the system. 

Eventually the bulb fell into the water. Reason being, I did not have a decent gooseneck tank mount at the time and it was mounted through a common lamp clamp. Nobody perished so that was nice. I dismantled it just to see the lenses and what is inside. 

 

                                                                                                                                                          There is a Ricordea mushroom on top of one of the live rock.

                                                                                                                                                         This photo reminds me of one of those pictures in my favourite magazine Marine Aquarist from Yokohama, Japan (in my humble opinion the best mag on reefkeeping). Sometimes it is made without any additional lights, just the flash of the camera and even without it. 

 

                                                                                                                    Because of my interest in angelfishes I decided to buy this book by the great Kiyoshi Endoh. 

My first (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi).   

 

PART II

                                                                      This is the tank in about two years from its conception.  Added an extra flow through a Sicce wavemaker, bought my first SPS corals -  a Branched montipora, Stylophora pistillata Purple Milka, Acropora sp., Millepora sp., Pink and green Birdsnest, Green Symphyllia radians from Indonesia, various zoanthids, a second Green Trachyphyllia, a blue Tridacna squamosa, two mini carpet anemones, a Echinophyllia sp., two clown fish Amphiprion ocellaris sp., and a female Blue Star Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon bipartitus) - another fish with great personality and behavior.   

 

 

                                                          A view of the glass stand with some of the products that I used at the time. 

                                                      The auxiliary plastic stand which is very convenient and easy to clean. 

 

 

 

                                                           For me cigars and reefkeeping go hand in hand. 

 

                                                      This Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) was eating artemia but did not survive. 

 

 

Acclimation. 

 

 

 

                                                             I never attached my corals to the live rock, which in my opinion is an interesting approach to reefkeeping, and I would relocate them from time to time. The Aiptasia-Eating Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) did a splendid work on erradicating the pest anemone and nowadays he is so lazy I barely see him picking at them.

 

 

 

 

PART III 

 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome to the community @Tsinguílev! Thank you for sharing your 5 year old nano reef with us!

[Clown79]

Welcome to Nano

 

Tank is looking good!

[Tsinguílev]

[Christopher Marks]

Wow @Tsinguílev, your nano reef is gorgeous now! 😍

 

I just saw all your updates and additional photos that you've added, incredible! It's great to see the progression over all these years.

4 minutes ago, Tsinguílev said:

 

[Tsinguílev]

Thank you Christopher. That means a lot to me! 

[WV Reefer]

Very nice! 😃

[Tsinguílev]

 

I have two Electric Blue Hermit Crabs (Calcinus elegans) and they are adorable. 

 

This is my night setting. I found it very beneficial to both fishes and corals as they get to rest from the intense light and flow throughout the day. This is just a 6w fiji purple bulb in the 420-25 spectre. The wavemaker is Jebao RW-4 in night mode.   

 

 The Ruby Head Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus cf cyanopleura) is sleeping between the LPS. 

 

 

I have two more nano tanks but in the freshwater realm - a Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens), a Flame Dwarf Gourami (Colisa lalia), a Blue Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus) and a cute little Bushy Nose Plecostomus (Ancistrus sp.).